(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
For over half a century, I have participated in projects, conferences, programs and fieldwork with both individuals and groups. I have worked both locally and internationally to achieve something that could resemble justice and equality between people, regardless of gender, religion or class. This trinity has been closely interwoven since the time of slavery and the emergence of patriarchal society. I have been studying this story ever since I discovered that I was born a "daughter" in a man's world, and that the real oppression of us women is man-made, political legislation, masked by the dark, angry powers of heaven.
Tame for suppression. This legislation is imposed on us by a small group of gentlemen who own the land, sit on the money, possess arms and honor and govern religion, the school system, the media, legislation and prisons.
All of them have the goal of hindering free thought, and to plant fear in the hearts of women and the poor. In this way, one should achieve that no one dares to think about the causes of poverty, illiteracy and the diseases they must suffer from. Instead, they should think it is a test from God. They should think that their faith and patience are put to the test of what God has written on their forehead and on the holy stone tablets in heaven. At school, this blind obedience is imprinted in the students – as a virtue and a duty.
It is forbidden to disagree with, or think about critically, the so-called religious foundations and political taboos. If anyone dares, they are condemned to be regarded as unbelievers or madmen or traitors, or to be punished with imprisonment, or to be fined 01 with their worldly lives and burn for eternity in the red-hot hell after death.
In this way, the people, women, youth and children lose the opportunity to become aware of the consequences of this eternal Trinity being forced upon us. Thus, they are also unable to revolt, to carry out a revolution or to get rid of the ruling regime.
For the revolution starts in the mind. Therefore, all the thinkers are put in prison for destruction or death. But some survive and continue the struggle, leading rebel movements and popular movements that, over the centuries, can lead to political change, intellectual development and increased quality of life for people.
The new ruling regimes, on the other hand, and their postmodernist suppression weapons and technology, are capable of preventing these people's revolts through military warfare, economic warfare, and media warfare.
Hard structures. The essence of the class-divided, patriarchal, religious and civil establishment is the same. There are no essential differences in governance in the east, west, south or north. We live in one world, not three or four. There is no one near the East, the Far East or the Middle East – it is only British colonialist language. It is simply a shorter distance from Egypt to London than from India to London, and thus India became the "far" East.
Awareness that negative influences through language are associated with colonialist culture is part of awareness of the other disadvantages that come with the economic, sexual and societal structures we are controlled by, both globally and locally.
Is it possible to abolish gender discrimination and discrimination in a world based on inequalities and segregation based on nationality, class, gender, race, religion, language, identity and everything else? Can gender equality become a reality in the 21st century, at the same time as we see a steady increase in economic and military repression, discrimination based on religion and gender, and an increase in racism and sectarian conflicts? Unemployment and poverty are rising, we are seeing war of all kinds and with all kinds of weapons, and we are seeing millions of women, children and youth fleeing the sea to escape a life worse than death.
Religious political terrorists throw bombs and grenades in all directions. They curse and rape women, blow up historical monuments and behead creative, thinking heads, and put them on the streets.
Promotes inequality. I have worked on many of the Egyptian authorities' projects for health, socio-economic and cultural development in the countryside and in the cities, and I have worked for the UN – both nationally and internationally, for NGOs and women's rights organizations. After all these experiences of life, my conclusion is that both Egyptian and other governments are just waiting to crush gender equality projects of all kinds. They then encourage, and finance, projects that lead to more discrimination and inequality, more poverty, illiteracy and disease for women and the poor. In Egypt, attempts at development and democratization, pluralism and economic openness have led to academic frustration and dictatorship.
At the same time, religious and political terrorism is increasing. The accumulation of money and power in the hands of a few individuals moving between business and politics is also increasing. It was during my work to reveal these connections that the authorities confiscated all my books and forbade me to speak to the people. The same has happened to anyone who challenges these disparities in the form of democratization, development, reform, cooperation, and friendship projects.
My conclusion is that both Egyptian and other governments are just waiting to crush gender equality projects of all kinds.
Some of the current themes that hide behind the postmodernist tree-
The unity is external colonialism, religious tyranny and terrorism.
How many international and national funds have not spent money on NGOs, development and democratization projects, elections, women's liberation and gender equality – and later saw that the result was the opposite?
Stagnation despite revolutions. Since the seventies and the Sadat / Reagan era, Egyptian politics has played a role in the escalation of political and religious movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist movement.
It was called openness, democracy and religious freedom, but led to several sectarian conflicts, and divided the people to weaken and control it. In reality, it led to more oppression and exploitation of women and the poor. The oppression that already held the woman down increased. She was caught between the claws of hijab and religious virtue on the one hand, and the consumerization of American society and objectification on the other.
Over the past four decades, the majority of Egyptian women (93 percent) have been covered by hijab or niqab, or circumcised. We have seen a significant increase in violence against women both at home and in the public. Human trafficking and prostitution with both women and girls is increasing, while girls are wearing hijab from the age of seven, forced into marriage from a young age and sold on the marriage market to wealthy, older Egyptian and foreign men.
Poverty also increases. Now, 40 percent of Egyptians live below the poverty line, meaning they live on less than two dollars a day, and the economy is on the decline. Along with increased political and religious disagreement, it was poverty and unemployment that led to the revolution in 2011 and the fall of the Mubarak regime in 2013. It was also this that made heads roll among the religiously-founded government of the Muslim brothers. But despite two major revolutions, the patriarchal class community structure, the legal system and the governing system have remained as they were before.
Women as the stewards of morality. For the past four decades, Egyptian NGOs and women's rights organizations have declared their defense of human rights and the fight against violence, especially against female circumcision. They have received funds in quantities both domestically and abroad.
Some of the taboo tragedies in the lives of Egyptian women have come to light, and in 2008 a ban on female circumcision was adopted in Egypt. Unfortunately, the result was counterproductive. This simply led to an increase in circumcisions. According to a report by UNICEF, Egypt is ranked worst in the world, with 27 million circumcised women. Nigeria follows closely, with 23 million circumcised women. In Cairo and the surrounding districts there are mobile clinics that travel around with doctors, scalps and fatwa, driven by religious and political movements.
Anyone who has studied history knows that female circumcision has not only taken place in Egypt and Africa, but has been practiced throughout the history of slavery. It has also been a form of sacrifice, in which the flesh and blood of men were sacrificed to the gods to appease them or seek protection from evil. Both the Torah and the Old Testament contain verses that can be clearly associated with the covering of women, circumcision, and a patriarchal class system.
The mother goddess disappeared from history and was replaced by a male god of power who ruled over both family and country. This is how the national, religious and moral restrictions were imposed on women: circumcision, veil, isolation behind the four walls of the home and stoning of the unfaithful woman. These rules were forced upon the women with iron and fire, while the man always had his right to several wives, mistresses and concubines.
We see an increasing number of children living on the streets, for whom fathers can relinquish responsibility with the blessing of law, sharia, educational systems and culture.
This is the basis of slavery that is governed by the patriarchal, class and religious structure, and is the basis of the legal and ethical contradictions, segregation and differences in value that haunt women and men in all countries, all over the earth, not just in Egypt.
Total sexual freedom for men. Although the new Egyptian constitution adopted after the revolution in 2011 has achieved some of the goals of equality in public life, it does not change any of the inequalities in ordinary women and men's privacy. These are differences that still find support in Egypt's patriarchal, religious family law. This section of the law is a direct derivation of Article 2 of the Constitution, which states that Islam is Egypt's state religion, and even other statutory rights of women are overruled by it. Family law, among other things, gives a father absolute authority over his wives and children, and it gives a man the right to divorce at his own will without legal proceedings, while women do not have the same right. It gives the man the right to marry four women, and it gives him the right to refuse paternity and refuse to be DNA tested in paternity issues.
This is a serious problem in Egypt today. We see an increasing number of children living on the street – we already have millions of street children – for whom fathers can relinquish responsibility with the blessing of law, sharia, educational systems and culture. This is, in fact, a complete anarchic sexual freedom, without any form of moral or societal responsibility. In doing so, we allow women and children to become the innocent victims of men's casual inventions in the name of religion and morality.
Basic change. The path to equality must begin with women beginning to change the foundations of patriarchal class thinking in homes, schools and universities, in mosques and churches, both locally and globally.
The upheaval starts in our minds, in the education system, in ideas and creativity. A political or economic revolution that does not start from within cannot succeed – and our revolution failed. The People's Revolution failed because it only led to a change of faces and employees in governing positions. It was not a change of ideas or thinking. The feed in the system is still exactly the same, we just changed the shell.
Should we start discussing how we can change the ideas, habits and values we have inherited from our parents and grandparents? Should we begin to practice democracy, justice and freedom of speech in our homes – with our children, rather than anyone else? Are we to realize that we, women, are half society? Now we consider ourselves weak individuals who need protection and help. Our country was colonized under the pretext of protection and assistance. So have our women and children been colonized.
We must be conscious. We must pick up on the falsehood and deceit of the patriarchal capitalist system, which is also entwined with the local systems. We must realize that receiving help does not liberate neither men nor women. We need financial and intellectual independence. We need confidence. We must see the discrimination and inequalities in the postmodern, patriarchal society's caste system. Together, we – women, men and children – can create a new system of new ideas, with our hands and creativity, based on freedom, justice and dignity both at home and abroad.
Translated from Arabic by Vibeke Koehler.
Saadawi is an Egyptian feminist, author, physician and psychiatrist, and has written a number of books on women in Islam. She is a regular correspondent for Ny Tid.
